Cutting horses are used in cattle herding operations to separate calves from a herd. The cutting horse rider maneuvers the calf away from the herd by approaching the calf head-on with the cutting horse, thereby forcing the calf to be removed or "cut" from the herd.
Cutting horses require special training to be able to perform the cutting function. In addition, the training must be often repeated to keep a good cutting horse at the top of its form.
Cutting horse training is not only a time-consuming process but also an expensive one. This is because live calves can only be used in a cutting situation three or four times before they lose their fear of the cutting horse and learn to act inappropriately. Thus, a cutting horse trainer requires an endless of supply of calves that have not previously faced cutting situations. The logistics and expense of such an operation are out of the reach of all but the most serious users of cutting horses or cutting horse enthusiasts.
Another factor at work in the modern day cutting horse field is the fact that cattle ranches by and large no longer use cutting horses in their every day cattle operations. Now cutting operations are performed by cowboys on motor bikes or four-wheeled all terrain vehicles. There is, however, an ever-growing hobby and sport use of cutting horses, with competitions being regularly held at rodeos, state fairs and the like across western part of the United States. It is obvious that the occasional hobbyist cannot work his horse often enough using live calves to keep his horse in top condition for shows and competitions.
Numerous attempts have been made to solve the problem of economically training cutting horses. U.S. Pat. No. 3,962,995 to Brinson discloses an artificial calf mounted to swivel, advance and retreat, and sweep back and forth in a horizontal plane. An operator separate from the horse rider is required to operate the Brinson apparatus. U.S. Pat. No. 3,303,821 to Harris discloses a mechanical cutting calf that is radio remote controlled, again, by an operator separate from the rider. The calf replica is on a wheeled frame. The propulsion and control is entirely self-contained, as the Harris calf does not run on any track with external propulsion provided.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,738,223 to Andreasen discloses a horse training apparatus where a calf replica is carried on an endless carrier with a reversible, variable speed drive externally provided. The Andreasen device also requires a second person to operate the device.
A remotely analogous area of the art involves apparatus for training roping horses and riders, as opposed to cutting horses These patents include U.S. Pat. No. 4,960,076 (Snorgrass, et al), U.S. Pat. No. 2,819,900 (Brackett), U.S. Pat. No. 4,286,788 (Simington, et al), U.S. Pat. No. 4,266,779 (English), and U.S. Pat. No. 3,324,832 (McCain). The roping horse trainers are relatively simple, as the required movements of the calf replica are less complicated in a roping situation, where a calf typically runs in a straight line. Thus, simulating calf roping is a much simpler problem than simulating a calf for a cutting horse.
Finally, remote radio control is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,733,530 to Labart, et al for a bucking strap. After a rodeo contestant has ridden a bucking horse or bull for a specified interval of time, the remote controlled receiver releases the bucking strap. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,765,276 to Kime, a multi-channel radio-controlled robotic jockey/monitor is provided to simulate a jockey on a race horse.
Yet another prior art system was known as the "Warvell Cutter". The Warvell Cutter had a mechanical calf which moved on tracks, controlled by hydraulics. A second person was required to operate the system.
Thus, there presently exists a need for a cutting horse trainer that can be economically manufactured and operated. Preferably, the trainer is configured so that the operations of the calf replica may be controlled by the rider. To provide rider remote control, the controls must be simplified so that they may be manipulated while riding, with the movements of the calf being provided by relatively sophisticated program and control intelligence.